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The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear Paperback – August 18, 2004

by Paul Rogat Loeb (Editor)

4.5 78 ratings

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The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear
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In The Impossible Will Take a Little While, a phrase borrowed from Billie Holliday, the editor of Soul of a Citizen brings together fifty stories and essays that range across nations, eras, wars, and political movements. Danusha Goska, an Indiana activist with a paralyzing physical disability, writes about overcoming political immobilization, drawing on her history with the Peace Corps and Mother Teresa. Vaclav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic, finds value in seemingly doomed or futile actions taken by oppressed peoples. Rosemarie Freeney Harding recalls the music that sustained the civil rights movement, and Paxus Calta-Star recounts the powerful vignette of an 18-year-old who launched the overthrow of Bulgaria's dictatorship. Many of the essays are new, others classic works that continue to inspire. Together, these writers explore a path of heartfelt community involvement that leads beyond despair to compassion and hope. The voices collected in The Impossible Will Take a Little While will help keep us all working for a better world despite the obstacles.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this uneven collection, Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time, gathers together over sixty poems, memoirs and essays tailored to buck up the spirits of a left-liberal audience depressed by the sorry state of the world. Although generally in favor of justice and democracy and against the "runaway global market," the selection of writers includes a wide range of environmentalists, civil rights crusaders, anti-poverty activists and dissidents against both fascism and communism. From these eclectic offerings some hopeful, albeit familiar themes assert themselves: ordinary people can make a difference, every little bit counts, in solidarity there is strength, a positive attitude is half the battle, the powers that be are unexpectedly vulnerable, and history is full of surprising victories of the weak over the strong. Not surprisingly, many of the pieces amount to motivational lectures, while others inflate the notion of hope into tiresome dilations on, for example, the links between information processing, daydreams and butterflies. But the articles that deal with concrete struggles and achievementsNelson Mandelas memoir of imprisonment on Robben Island, Vaclav Havels account of the ant-like construction of civil society and a dissident political culture in Communist Czechoslovakia, Bill McKibbens homage to the urban planning triumphs of Curitiba, Brazildeliver real inspiration.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A shot in the arm for all of us who feel withered by crisis and paralyzed with cynicism...." -- Aretha Williams, San Antonio Express News, Sept 12 2005

"A stirring collection of essays aimed at people who still want to believe that ordinary people can change the world." -- Atlanta Journal Constitution, October 30, 2004

"An anthology of some of the most powerful voices of our time." -- Boston Globe, Oct 3 2004

"An indispensable anthology of hope. Put away your Prozac, and pick up The Impossible Will Take a Little While." -- Arianna Huffington

"Deeply moving and motivating... a retinue to be reckoned with from those dedicated to the concept of a better world" -- Baltimore Sun, Jan 2, 2005

"Hopeful, inspiring, and motivating... May well be required reading for us all." -- Sierra Club magazine, December 2004

"Paul Loeb brings hope for a better world in a time when we so urgently need it." -- Millard Fuller, founder, Habitat for Humanity

"This book can even make one hopeful about the future despite so many signs to the contrary." -- Bill Moyers

"This might possibly be the most important collection of stories and essays you will ever read." -- History Channel top-10 2004 political book list, November 2004

"Will resonate with anyone struggling with despair and doubt." -- Dallas Morning News, Nov. 30, 2004

From the Author

Everywhere I go in the country, people ask me if their efforts can really matter. I wrote this book to give people hopedrawing together some of the finest engaged writers in the world to explore what keeps us going in difficult times.

People say the book will be tremendously helpful for helping ordinary citizens replenish the wellsprings of their commitment and keep working for justice in this hard political time.

I've included pieces that explore the historical, political, ecological and theological frameworks that help us to persistwith concrete examples of how people have faced and overcome despair. Some directly address our current politics. Others examine how people persisted in the struggles of the past: what it was like to confront South African apartheid, Eastern Europes Communist dictatorships, or Mississippi's entrenched segregation.

Political hope and personal hope are intertwined, of course. What lets us work for change is related to what keeps us going day after day when our personal lives get difficult. So some pieces straddle both. But Ive focused on the kind of hope that takes us beyond merely personally surviving and carving out the best private life we can. I believe The Impossible Will Take a Little While can help readers find common solutions and see the world clear-eyedacknowledging the destructive power of greed, fear, and shortsighted expedience, resisting the temptations of complacency and sentimentality, yet continuing nonetheless, to work for change, remembering that hope, in the words of one of my authors, is acting in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.

I think youll enjoy the book

About the Author

Paul Rogat Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen and three other books. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He is an associated scholar at Seattle's Center for Ethical Leadership and lives in Seattle, Washington.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (August 18, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 422 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465041663
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465041664
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #828,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,031 in National & International Security (Books)
- #2,960 in Essays (Books)
- #9,555 in Sociology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 78 ratings

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Paul Rogat Loeb
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Paul Rogat Loeb has spent thirty-five years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment--asking what makes some people choose lives of social commitment, while others abstain, and exploring how to find the hope to stay engaged despite all the frustrations and barriers. Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Challenging Time has over 100,000 copies in print and St Martin's will publish a wholly revised edition out in April 2010. The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear (Basic Books, 2004), was named the #3 political book of fall 2004 by the History Channel and American Book Association, won the Nautilus Award for best social change book, and was one of six books selected for the Sierra Club's new common reading groups. He's also the author of Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy & Action on the American Campus, Nuclear Culture, and Hope in Hard Times. An Affiliate Scholar at Seattle's Center for Ethical Leadership, he's written for the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Psychology Today, Utne Reader, Mother Jones, The Nation, Redbook, Huffington Post, the International Herald Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor, been interviewed on CNN, NPR, C-SPAN, NBC news, CBC, and the BBC, and lectured at 400 colleges throughout the country and numerous national and international conferences. He also created and ran Campus Compact's 2008 Campus Election Engagement Project, which helped colleges and universities in 15 states engage their students in the election, and his 2002 talk to the American Association of State Colleges & Universities inspired that association's 200-campus American Democracy Project. See www.paulloeb.org
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Danusha V. Goska
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Rocci Hildum

The Book I Needed In Days Like These

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2008

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This is a great book for dark and challenging times. There is no end to negative news and revelations of ever more expressions of individual and collective human greed, violence, inhmanity, and destructive egoism. This book is a collection of essays celebrating and encouraging the positive. This book is the companion to Margaret Mead's advice to remember that a small group of passionate people can change the world. I Jpurchased the Kindle edition of this book, which is great for me. I can carry the book with me virtually everywhere and can refer to it as needed, reading an essay in just about any snippet of time. What an uplifting use of that time waiting in the doctor's office or for a prescription to be filled!!

2 people found this helpful

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Jessica Lindmark

Stories and voices we need right now

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017

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This book is full of the kind of stories we truly need right now. Stories of inspiration and empowerment, of thoughtful perspective, successful collective action in the face of impossible odds, and antidotes to the anguish and anger that sometimes threaten to deminish our spirits. I highly recommend this book to anyone called to action or discouraged after the US election.

One person found this helpful

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Paul S.

a much needed balm

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2007

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Good things are possible, keep at it, it will take a while, but, it is not impossible! Even the review here at Amazon by Ms. Nina Rosenberg shows the uphill distance we have to go. Let's all keep walking, and even invite Ms Rosenberg along, maybe offer her a cup of tea. Anyhow, I loved this book and feel that we need to sometimes focus on what is good, and what HAS been accomplished and try to understand how it was acomplished so that we too may pave the way to greater peace, for all. Yes, not just for the USA, but for all citizens of the world. If you liked this book, I suspect you might also enjoy a book on non-violence called "nonviolence: twenty five lessons" by Mark Kurlansky.

Don't give up, keep at it, keep the faith, ward off despair!

5 people found this helpful

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Gina M. Harris

Needed for today

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2017

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Truly inspiring. Pulling from many authors and experiences, it is possible to feel hope. There are reminders of things that can work, but also that the attempts that fail have value and are part of the process. I know I will want to return to it again and again.

One person found this helpful

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John Chandler

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2018

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Tired and played.....

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KatBoxJanitor, Deborah

There is hope...you can make change happen!

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2009

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This was purchased as a text for graduate school. Since we only had to read about 15 of the essays, but I am going to read more of it once the quarter is over, and I don't feel that way about most of the books I have purchased for school so far.

Each essay is thought provoking and it could be an awesome book for a conversation group or book club.

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Rachel K

Inspiring and Universal

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2014

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This collection of essays is a wonderful resource for teachers, activists, anyone working with inspired young people. The writers (Desmond Tutu, Mandela, Bill McKibben) span across any one movement, and give a sense of how connected social justice movements are. Definitely worth having on your shelf!

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Henny Wise

THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear"

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2013

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"THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear" : Brilliant collection! Yes, it gives hope and deep thought in a time of change. I give this book to all my friends..

One person found this helpful

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Dr Michael Williams

Inspiring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2013

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A great collection of inspiring and poignant essays from some of the world's foremost community activists and peace promoters. Well-worth reading!

cloudspotter

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2018

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exactly as describe and arrived promptly

Val Fieth

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 17, 2016

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Great book.

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